The Hellenistic period introduced the accurate characterization of age in works of art. Young children enjoyed great favor, whether in mythological form, as baby Herakles or Eros, or in genre scenes, playing with each other or with pets. This Eros, god of love, has been brought down to earth and disarmed, a conception considerably different from that of the powerful, often cruel, and capricious being so often addressed in Archaic poetry. One of the few bronze statues to have survived from antiquity, this figure of a plump baby conveys a sense of the immediacy and naturalistic detail that the medium of bronze made possible.
This statue is the finest example of its kind. Judging from numerous extant replicas, the type was popular in Hellenistic and Roman times. Its high quality and large scale are most appropriate to a religious sculpture, one that was likely dedicated at a sanctuary to Eros or his mother, Aphrodite. Differences in the metal alloy of the drapery between the legs as well as its technique of manufacture suggest that this part of the statue was restored at a later date, perhaps during the Early Imperial period.

Forsyth, William Holmes and The International Confederation of Dealers in Works of Art. 1974. "Acquisitions from the Brummer Gallery." The Grand Gallery at the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Sixth International Exhibition presented by C.I.N.O.A.. p. 2, fig. 1, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Mattusch, Carol. 1998. "Rhodian Sculpture: A School, a Style, or Many Workshops?." Regional Schools in Hellenistic Sculpture: Proceedings of an International Conference Held at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, March 15-17, 1996, Dr. Olga Palagia and William Coulson, eds. p. 154, fig. 10, Oxford: Oxbow Books.

Hemingway, Seán. 2000. "A technical analysis of the bronze Horse and Jockey group from Artemision." From the Parts to the Whole: Acta of the 13th International Bronze Congress held at Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 28 - June 1, 1996, Prof. Carol Mattusch, ed. p. 231 n. 13, Portsmith, R.I.: Journal of Roman Archaeology.